China
Consular Service |
Once the
Consulate had settled on Formosa, it was based at Taiwan-fu [臺灣府]
(later Tainan [臺南]) where the top Chinese authority, the Circuit
Intendant [分巡道] (colloquially the Tao-t'ai
[道臺]) resided. Given the
difficulty of communication, the practice became that the Consul
officially resided at Tainan and was responsible for the whole
territory, but especially for South Formosa; whereas a
Vice-consul was stationed at Tamsui [淡水] and was responsible for
North Formosa.
In 1877 the division of Formosa became formalized
when the Consular District of Tamsui was created with Alexander
Frater as the first Consul.
In South Formosa, the practice was that the
Consul resided at Takow [打狗] and his Assistant resided at Tainan.
This fluid system became more so when a Consulate was finally
built at Anping [安平] in 1889. |
Year |
Consul |
Dates |
Acting
Consul |
Notes |
1861 |
|
6 July until November |
Vice-Consul
Robert Swinhoe |
Swinhoe removed to Tamsui
in November 1861. |
1862 |
|
to 10 May.
From 10 May |
Vice-Consul Swinhoe
Acting Vice-Consul
George Compigné Parker Braune |
Vice-Consulate in Tamsui.
Swinhoe departs on leave on 10 May. |
1863 |
|
|
Acting Vice-Consul George Compigné Parker Braune |
Vice-Consulate in Tamsui.
Swinhoe on Home Leave. |
1864 |
|
to end of Jan.
From end of Jan. |
Acting Vice-Consul Braune
Vice-Consul Swinhoe |
Swinhoe returns to Tamsui
at end of January. Braune departs Tamsui in February for
Chinkiang.
Vice-Consulate moved from Tamsui to
Takow on 7 November 1864. |
1865 |
Robert Swinhoe |
|
Vice-Consul Swinhoe |
Vice-Consul
Swinhoe promoted to Consul on 4 February 1865. |
1866 |
Robert Swinhoe
|
1 March - 31 Oct.
From 1 Nov. |
Thomas Watters
Charles Carroll |
Consul Swinhoe ordered to
officiate at
Amoy on 28 February. Watters Assistant-in-charge. |
1867 |
[Robert Swinhoe] |
to 30 November.
From 1 December |
Charles Carroll
Thomas Adkins |
Swinhoe [absent] from post.
Carroll departs on 2 Dec. to be
Vice-Consul at Pagoda Island. |
1868 |
[Robert Swinhoe] |
until 15 Feb.
15 Feb to 30 Jun.
From 1 Jul |
Thomas Adkins
George Jamieson
John Gibson |
|
1869 |
[Robert Swinhoe] |
to 14 June.
From 14 June |
John Gibson
William Marsh Cooper |
Gibson is ordered to Canton
but dies en route at Amoy on 28 July. |
1870 |
[Robert Swinhoe] |
to 19 January.
From 20 Jan. |
William Marsh Cooper
Archer Rotch Hewlett |
|
1871 |
[Robert Swinhoe] |
to 30 Nov.
From 1 Dec. |
Archer Rotch Hewlett
Pelham Laird Warren |
Warren was
Assistant-in-Charge. |
1872 |
[Robert Swinhoe] |
to 29 February.
From 1 March |
Pelham Laird Warren
William Gregory |
|
1873 |
[Robert Swinhoe] |
|
William Gregory |
Swinhoe was Consul until 9
Sept. Chaloner Alabaster was appointed to succeed Swinhoe, but
Alabaster did not proceed. |
1874 |
|
|
William Gregory |
|
1875 |
|
|
William Gregory |
|
1876 |
|
to 22 May.
From 23 May |
William Gregory
Thomas Watters |
Walter Edward King
appointed to succeed Alabaster on 20 October, but no evidence
that he proceeded. |
1877 |
[Archer Rotch Hewlett] |
to 21 February.
22 Feb to 17 Apr.
From 18 Apr. |
Thomas Watters
George Macdonald Home Playfair
Alexander Frater |
Playfair was
Assistant-in-Charge. Hewlett was
appointed Consul on 9 November 1877, but did not arrive until
1878. |
1878 |
Archer Rotch Hewlett |
to 30 April.
From 1 May |
Alexander Frater |
Consul Hewlett, appointed
on 9 November 1877, took charge from Frater on 1 May 1878. |
1879 |
Archer Rotch Hewlett |
to 20 October.
20 Oct to 31 Dec. |
William Holland |
Hewlett was seconded as
Consul at Canton on 30 November but left Taiwan in October.
Hewlett remained at Canton until 1885. |
1880 |
[Archer Rotch Hewlett]
[George Phillips] |
From 1 Jan. |
Pelham Laird Warren |
Hewlett [absent].
Warren arrived 29 Dec 1879 and took charge
from Holland 1 Jan.
Phillips [absent]. |
1881 |
George Phillips |
to 15 Feb.
From 16 Feb. |
Pelham Laird Warren |
Consul Phillips appointed
to Taiwan on 25 February 1880 but did not arrive until 13
February 1881. |
1882 |
George Phillips
|
to 2 July.
2 - 21 July.
From 21 July |
Pierre Frederick
Hausser
Thomas Watters |
In August Consul Phillips
was officiating Consul at Swatow until April 1886.
Phillips left Student Interpreter Hausser in charge of the
Consulate until the arrival of the officiating Consul Watters. |
1883 |
[George Phillips] |
to 31 March.
From 31 March |
Thomas Watters
Pelham Laird Warren |
|
1884 |
[George Phillips] |
to 15 February.
15 Feb to 22 Dec.
From 22 Dec. |
Pelham Laird Warren
William Gregory
William Donald Spence |
Warren, whose wife had died
on 14 Jan., departed as Vice-Consul to Pagoda Island. Gregory
was the officiating Consul. |
1885 |
[George Phillips] |
|
William Donald Spence |
|
1886 |
[George Phillips]
Pelham Laird Warren |
to 28 February.
28 Feb to 21 Apr.
From 21 April |
William Donald Spence
Michie Forbes Anderson Fraser
|
Phillips was officiating
Consul at Swatow until 19 April 1886.
Warren ordered to Taiwan by Peking on 8
March. Arrived on 21 April, when his rank was still Vice-Consul.
He was officially promoted Consul at Taiwan on 19 July 1886. |
1887 |
Pelham Laird Warren |
|
|
|
1888 |
Pelham Laird Warren |
to 4 June.
From 4 June |
George Macdonald
Home Playfair |
Consul Warren took Home
Leave. |
1889 |
Pelham Laird Warren |
to 27 July.
From 27 July |
George Macdonald Home
Playfair
|
|
1890 |
Pelham Laird Warren |
|
|
|
1891 |
Pelham Laird Warren |
|
|
|
1892 |
Pelham Laird Warren |
|
|
|
1893 |
Pelham Laird Warren |
to August.
August to 29 November.
From 29 Nov. |
Ambrose John
Sundius
William Holland |
|
1894 |
Richard Willett Hurst |
to 15 Jan.
From 15 Jan. |
William Holland |
Hurst was appointed Consul
at Taiwan on 1 December 1893 and arrived in January. |
1895 |
Richard Willett Hurst |
|
|
From 30 November 1895 the
Consulate was under the British Minister at Tokyo, Japan. |
1896 |
Richard Willett Hurst |
to 30 April. |
|
|
Japan
Consular Service |
The Japan
Consular Service divided Formosa into two Districts with two
Consuls. One Consul resided at Tamsui and was responsible for
the Prefectures of Taihoku (Taipei), Shinchiku (Hsinchu),
Taichiu (Taichung), and the Sub-Prefecture of Giran (Ilan). The
other Consul resided at Tainan and was responsible for the
Consular District of Tainan (South Formosa). |
1896 |
Joseph Henry Longford
|
30 April to Dec.
From December |
Ernest Alfred
Griffiths |
Longford was appointed
Consul at Tainan on 4 February 1896, and then to Nagasaki on 28
December 1896. |
1897 |
William Joseph Kenny
|
to 31 January.
1 Feb. to July.
From July |
Ernest Alfred Griffiths
Ernest Alfred Griffiths |
Kenny was appointed Consul
at Tainan on 28 December 1896. Kenny became very sick on Formosa
from June, and was seconded to Honolulu, Hawaii, on 23 October
1897. |
1898 |
[William Joseph Kenny] |
|
Ernest Alfred Griffiths |
|
1899 |
[William Joseph Kenny] |
|
Ernest Alfred Griffiths |
|
1900 |
William Joseph Kenny |
27 July |
Thomas Harrington |
Kenny took Local Leave on
27 July. Griffiths on Home Leave. |
1901 |
William Joseph Kenny |
|
|
|
1902 |
William Joseph Kenny |
to 29 January.
From 29 Jan. |
Ernest Alfred
Griffiths |
Kenny took Home Leave, and
was then appointed Consul-General for the Philippine Islands on
21 May 1903. |
1903 |
Alfred Ernest Wileman |
to 9 November.
From 9 Nov. |
Ernest Alfred Griffiths |
Wileman appointed Consul
for the Consular District of Tainan on 21 May. |
1904 |
Alfred Ernest Wileman |
|
|
|
1905 |
Alfred Ernest Wileman |
|
|
|
1906 |
Alfred Ernest Wileman |
|
|
|
1907 |
Alfred Ernest Wileman |
13 Apr to 5 Dec. |
Alfred Richard Firth |
|
1908 |
Alfred Ernest Wileman |
|
|
|
1909 |
Alfred Ernest Wileman |
to 1 May.
From 1 May |
William Massy
Royds |
|
1910 |
|
to 24 March.
24 March to 9 July. |
William Massy Royds
Alfred Richard Firth |
Firth was Acting Consul at
Tamsui and only stayed in Tainan from 21 to 27 March. |